The UConn Huskies women’s basketball team got back to the business of winning basketball games on Wednesday night and while one streak was over their last time out, they were able to break another record.
After a poor shooting performance against Stanford, Tiffany Hayes bounced back with 22 points to lead the No. 2/2 Huskies to an easy 81-35 win over the Villanova Wildcats in front of 7,168 at Gampel Pavilion.
The win was UConn’s 70th straight at home which breaks the record that they held along with the Tennessee Volunteers. The Huskies improve to 13-1 (3-0 Big East) while the Wildcats fall to 7-7 (0-2).
Besides her 22 points, Hayes also had two rebounds and three assists. Maya Moore added 16 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals while Bria Hartley had 13 points and six rebounds.
Kelly Faris led the Huskies with 12 rebounds to go along with her three points and three assists.
Lindsay Kimmel led the Wildcats with six points. Laura Sweeney, Jesse Carey and Heather Scanlan all had five points with Sweeney pulling down a team-high three rebounds.
The Huskies got the game going with a 14-0 run over the first 7:44 of the game before Amanda Swiezynski got the Wildcats on the board with a jumper. During that stretch, Villanova was 0-for-12 from the floor. UConn followed that up with a 9-0 run to push their lead to 21 points and went into the locker room holding a 44-12 advantage.
After Faris hit a free throw in the early moments of the second half, the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to cut the UConn lead to 24 points at 45-21 but that’s as close as they would get the rest of the way.
UConn wasn’t perfect in its play as at times early on they looked sloppy against an over-matched Villanova squad. But as the game got going, they really got into a nice offensive and defensive flow to make sure that Villanova wouldn’t recover from the early deficit.
Things won’t be an easy easier for the Huskies their next time out as they head to South Bend, IN to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday afternoon. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be nationally televised on CBS.
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Notes and musings:
Villanova Wildcats @ UConn Huskies 1.5.10 box score
Here are some quotes from UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma, Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes and Villanova head coach Harry Perretta.
This tweet from Hartford Courant reporter Shawn Courchesne from the game tonight cracked me up. And this one too.
The starters were Bria Hartley, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris, Maya Moore and Stefanie Dolson.
UConn shot 57.7% (30-52) from the floor while the Wildcats shot 22% (11-50).
The Huskies had 17 assists on their 30 made baskets.
UConn was 6-of-12 (50%) on three-pointers while Villanova was 9-of-38 (23.7%).
The Huskies 15-for-19 (78.9%) at the charity stripe while the Wildcats were a perfect 4-for-4.
UConn dominated the glass holding a 47-16 advantage.
The Huskies had 23 points off of 14 Villanova turnovers. The Wildcats had 14 points off of 14 Huskies turnovers.
UConn had 13 second chance points to Villanova’s zero.
The Huskies outscored the Wildcats 34-2 in the paint.
Villanova didn’t’ score a field goal over the final 8:05 of the game.
All ten Huskies who played scored at least one point in the game.
The rest of the game notes are courtesy of the UConn Sports Information Department:
– Villanova’s first points did not come until the 12:16 mark. The Wildcats missed their first 12 field goal attempts.
– Villanova’s first 3-point field goal did not come until the 7:03 mark. VU leads the BIG EAST in 3-pointers made per game.
– VU’s 12 first-half points were the fewest allowed by Connecticut in the first half this season
– The Huskies avoided back-to-back losses once again. The team has not lost two games in-a-row since March of 1993. Since then, the Huskies are 44-0 in games following a loss.
– UConn improves to 157-2 in its last 159 BIG EAST home games and the team has won 109 of its last 111 games in Gampel Pavilion.
– Connecticut is now 283-3 in its last 286 games against unranked opponents
– Moore scored 16 points and is now only four points shy of becoming the 45th player in NCAA history to score at least 2,500 points.
– Bria Hartley has scored in double-figures in 13 of her first 14 collegiate games, including 12-straight.
Photo credits: Richard Messina – Hartford Courant (No. 14, No. 12)
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